This invention relates generally to gift card holders and more particularly to a device for holding a gift card while providing graphical and mechanical enhancements to entertain the gift card recipient and add value to the gift, namely pop-up elements, a pocket for storing a gift card, and a tear away panel for holding a gift card prior to purchase.
Transaction cards, stored value cards, or gift cards, as they are commonly called based upon their intended use, have become popular gifts. Gift cards typically comprise a stored value card whereby a certain cash equivalent value is encoded upon a magnetic strip applied to the surface of the card. This stored value may be determined by the vendor prior to packaging and display for sale or may be selected at the point of sale by the purchaser and loaded by the cashier using a magnetic card reader/writer. While popular, gift cards are typically provided with a generic and impersonal design, typically identifying the associated merchant for which the card may be used to purchase merchandise, and therefore are not personalized in view of the intended recipient. Gift cards are often presented for sale on display racks in stores, sometimes in plastic or acetate boxes mounted on display stands. The boxes are typically sized to have a width only slightly greater than the longitudinal width of a gift card and to have a depth sufficient to hold several gift cards stacked one behind the other.
What is needed, therefore, is a gift card holder that provides graphical and mechanical enhancements to entertain the gift card recipient and add value to the gift, and which also has dimensions similar to that of a gift card so that one or more of such holders may be presented for sale in prior art display boxes designed to hold gift cards.